


Golden Boys

by BoysOfGold



Category: That was Then This is Now - S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Coming Out, Falling In Love, Fist Fights, He sucks, Homophobic Language, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Sorry Not Sorry, Stargazing, Underage Drinking, also i'm a mark stan and i hate bryon like there is no tomorrow so, also mark is hot lol, anyway, gay ponyboy is gay and in denial, idk anymore it's 3am so you better read this, in a not homophobic context, mark deserved better, my opinions are a little obvious, semi canon, there isn't actually proof they didn't have a thing so, they don't actually get together in this just feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25180642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoysOfGold/pseuds/BoysOfGold
Summary: Ponyboy is at that school dance with Mark in the beginning of TWTTIN. He decides that now is the best time to get some of the truth off his chest.This sort of ties into another fic I might write one day. If I do it will be called Young And Beautiful so keep an eye out for that.
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Mark Jennings
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Golden Boys

**Author's Note:**

> So I noticed the utter lack of Ponyboy x Mark fanfic and didn't see much that peeked my interest, so I figured I'd cater to myself and hopefully this fits some of your guys' tastes (not like there are a lot of other options). Kudos and comments are appreciated, I'm new to this so I'd love some feedback.

The school gymnasium was still mostly deserted when I arrived for the dance. In fact, I could still see people setting up the various tables around the edges of the room. I groaned to myself; Mark had told me that he would be there early.

What few people were there turned to stare, for too long and for reasons I didn’t want to be reminded of. I turned back around and walked outside to sit on the curb and smoke.

Over the next fifteen minutes, people poured into the gymnasium. I was careful to sit out of the way, close enough that I could tell who was walking inside, but tucked away enough that no one would pay too much attention to me.

I never liked being the center of attention, and, now that I was locally famous, I liked it even less. I tried not to be rude, but when people ask you about the time you watched your best friend in a fire before they even let you introduce yourself, you don’t exactly find new people all that charming.

I had almost finished my cigarette when Terry Jones walked up to me. He was a big, broad-shouldered guy, who could have probably snapped my neck with only a finger. He was holding a can of beer in each hand, one of which he handed to me.

“Here you go, Curtis. There’s more back in my car if you want it.”

“Thanks,” I said. I dropped my cigarette butt on the ground next to me and opened the can. I was already drinking when Terry spoke up again.

“Say, why are you sitting alone in the dark out here? Aren’t Jennings and Williamson here?”

I shook my head before I finished drinking, “No. I haven’t seen Mark. And I don’t know the other guy.”

Terry sighed, “Mark’s probably late. You know him, early is just showing up at all.” I hung my head in disappointment, which Terry noticed, so he offered, “Do you want to help me look around for Williamson?”

We entered the dance together, which was just getting into full swing. I clung to Terry like a stray cat, hoping the room was crowded enough that I wasn't noticeable. A strange pit formed in my stomach. Mark wasn’t there, as if he hadn’t been the person to invite me to go stag with him. Somehow, even though I didn’t have a date (never had), this felt worse than if I had been stood up. Maybe it was because he was one of about three people I knew who were my age. I barely talked to other people anymore.

Terry eventually found Williamson, who had evidently ceased in our collective plans of going stag, and the three of them drifted off on their own. I had no idea what they were talking about, I could barely hear them over the music. All that I knew was that the room was filling up with more people. More people that weren’t Mark.

I finished my beer and went to go find a trash can. If Mark wasn’t here, there were only two options: get wasted and try to socialize, or leave and just go to bed. Darry would probably be mad if I came home drunk, but Soda would be pretty disappointed if I came home early to be a recluse. Just as I started weighing my options in my head, a hand touched my shoulder.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Mark turned me toward him, wide-eyed and grinning. He was also holding two cans of beer, one already opened.

“You told me you’d be here early,” I told him. He knew that I didn’t have many friends here, and that I couldn’t exactly mesh into a crowd anymore.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said, handing me his second can as if it was a peace offering. “Bryon wanted me to pick up a car for him.” Mark snickered to himself, “He’s got a girlfriend.”

I scowled at the thought of him. Mark spoke very highly of Bryon, but he had always come across to me as a self-centered jerk. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t trust him. It probably had to do with the fact that Mark told me that Bryon saw me as a threat, ever since his last girlfriend dumped him because she decided she liked me. Which felt like a stupid reason. It wasn’t like I was helping her cheat, and he had a new girlfriend now. Bryon already went through girls like Soda went through cake, so it wasn’t like she was irreplaceable to him anyway.

“Hey, go easy on Bryon,” Mark told me. “Just don’t go seducing his new girl. She’s already too pretty for him.”

I let out a small laugh. Less than a minute had passed, and yet all my frustration with Mark, and in general, had melted. He just had that way about him. I honestly didn’t know why it wasn’t Mark that was pulling all the girls instead of his brother.

Mark was one of the most handsome guys I’d seen around town. He had golden hair, skin, and eyes, which had this strange, almost wild glint to them. As if he feared nothing and no one. The world meant nothing to him, nothing outside of his own reckless enjoyment.

I had never felt that way before, but the closest I’d felt to it was with him. In a way, I was glad he hadn’t bothered to get a date, and had forgotten to look for his other friends. I liked it being only the two of us. Something about just felt right. He was so far from perfect (he had almost gotten me arrested on three separate occasions) and yet he was.

He kept rambling on about whatever came to his mind as I watched and listened, slowly sipping at my drink, so I could avoid needing to walk away to get more. I ignored everyone who came our way, pretending I couldn’t hear them over Mark and the music, until a couple weaved their way through the crowd, toward us.

“Hi Cathy,” Mark greeted the girl. “I haven’t seen you in a long time.” Beside her stood Bryon, whom I assumed was her boyfriend. He frowned in my direction.

“I haven’t been here to see.” Now that she mentioned it, she did seem vaguely familiar.

Mark gestured to me with his free hand, “I don’t think you know Ponyboy Curtis -- this is Cathy Carlson.”

“Hi,” I said. I definitely recognized the name, just not the face. Mark was right, she was really pretty, and definitely selling herself short by going with Bryon. A voice in the back of my head told me I should have been attracted to her. She had long black hair and beautiful eyes. I just couldn’t be interested. And, besides, Mark’s eyes were way nicer.

Mark said something to Bryon, who nodded and led Cathy away, subtly glaring at me. He turned back to me, and finished off the rest of his beer.

“You wanna go outside?” he asked. I shrugged, to which he responded, “Sounds good,” and left me to follow him outside.

I hitched my jacket to protect myself from the late night breeze. Mark walked toward the back of the parking lot and propped himself up on the hood of a car, as if he had not a single care in the world. I followed suit, and, as I crawled on top of the car, I noticed Terry passed out drunk inside.

“He won’t mind.” Mark leaned back onto the windshield and folded his arms behind his head. I copied him, except I folded mine on my stomach, and stared up at the sky with him. The vast, star-filled sky.

We lay like that, in a comfortable silence, for a few minutes. Every so often, I would glance at him, and see his golden eyes sparkling under the streetlights. With everything that happened, I never thought that color could make me feel like doing anything other than crying. But, now, I was fighting the temptation to reach over and-

“You enjoying the view?” Mark grinned at me, clearly having noticed me staring.

I felt my face flush. He laughed, that wild look returning to him instantly. My heart fluttered. Could this be?

No, I promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love with any friends. I knew that the gang wouldn’t mind me liking other boys. It wasn’t like Johnny and Dally had been at all subtle. Darry would probably appreciate me not having any pregnancy scares like Soda did. The problem I had was with where we were. As harsh as it sounded, we all knew that Dally’s love for Johnny was the reason he died. He chose to die, because he couldn’t exist on his own.

It wasn’t like Mark wasn’t a risk to love either. He was constantly in trouble with the law, and, even when he wasn’t, he was the most reckless and irresponsible person I knew.

And yet I knew that was why I liked him.

“What do you think of Bryon?” Mark asked.

I shrugged, “I don’t know. He’s okay. He’s your brother, after all.”

“It’s fine if you don’t like him,” he said. “You don’t have to hang around him.”

“Yeah but he’s always around you. And I like hanging around you though,” I told him. He looked back over at me, and I instantly worried he knew what I had meant to be that. If he did, he didn’t stop to acknowledge it.

“Thanks. That means a lot. Especially now.”

“What do you mean?”

Mark sighed, looking more dejected than I’d ever seen him, “I feel like Bryon is growing away from me. I guess it was bound to happen, we are pretty much opposite people. But I don’t want that. He means a lot to me. He’s the only reason I didn’t end up in a boy’s home after my parents died. I just don’t want to lose him.”

I put an arm around Mark. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I never worried about that with Darry and Soda. I always knew they would be there. Maybe it was different when you aren’t actually brothers.

Mark leaned into me, not a lot, but enough to make my heart palpitate. “What about you?” he asked. Is your little gang doing fine?”

“I guess. Everyone’s still sad about Johnny and Dally. They’ve all been staying over more. No one wants to be alone, it’s just no one’s been willing to say it out loud.”

“That makes sense. Everything is changing.”

I wasn’t used to seeing Mark so upset. Mark always lived in the moment, seeking thrill after thrill until it exhausted him. Now he seemed worried about maintaining that, finding bigger and better excitements to fill the hole in him he liked to pretend he didn’t have.

It wasn’t that Mark wasn’t strong, he just seemed like he was always a shove away from falling away, and he hid it the best he could.

“Have you ever been with a girl?”

I froze, trying to think of a place that question would come from that wasn’t suspicion about me. Then I remembered Bryon and his loose belt.

“No,” I told him plainly. “I think my friends expected me to get with that Soc girl, Cherry. But she wasn’t my type. And I wasn’t hers either.”

“She’d got a rotten taste in men,” Mark said. I wanted to argue, but there was nothing wrong about what he said. She did sell herself short, like Cathy did. I didn’t know why girls did that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“What about Angela?” Mark asked. “She pretty much ditched Bryon for you.”

He had readjusted himself onto my shoulder, obviously confident that no one could see us. He was still the most beautiful person around, and the intimacy of the moment and being alone together made him even more so.

Which is why, instead of simply saying “no,” I turned to Mark and asked, “Can I tell you something?”

I was sure I could trust Mark. He was pretty loyal to people he liked, and I assumed I was at least a close friend. I just needed to tell someone. And, for some reason, that person had to be Mark.

“Don’t see why not.”

I took a deep breath, only now realizing that I’ve never said it out loud, even to myself. What was even supposed to say?

“Mark...I’m gay,” I said before immediately realizing that there were many ways he could misinterpret that. I went to correct myself, but didn’t know how, or even if I wanted to.

He sat unmoving for what felt like years before he finally just went, “Huh. Never would have taken you for a fag before.” My heart instantly sank to the bottom of my chest. Maybe this was a mistake. Then he continued, “Same with me.”

My eyes went wide, and I knocked him off my shoulder to stare at him, “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “It wasn’t even my secret we were supposed to be sharing. Why are you more surprised?”

I shrugged, “Wouldn’t have taken you for one either.”

In a way, this was the most relieving way it could have happened. Not only was he okay with me, he understood it. I felt every muscle in my body relax when he grinned at me, which typically had the opposite effect.

“Technically only half though,” he continued. “Or maybe three-quarters. I was interested in a girl once.”  
“Once,” I repeated, grinning back at him. 

I really loved him, I thought. And I knew why, he was incredible. I still wasn’t hyped to confess any feelings to him, but something told me he knew, and that he didn’t mind. Or maybe he wanted me too. I knew he liked the positive attention for once in his life.

“So,” Mark attempted to move the conversation along, “if you wanna keep talking, I could tell Bryon that you are coming home with us. Or I can go with you.”

“Sounds good,” I said, not sure which I was agreeing with. I didn’t care though. I was fine with anything happening at this point.

I slid off the hood of the car, and waited for Mark to do the same. As I watched him, now under a new light, I found myself wondering if maybe gold could last. Maybe, just this once.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Your thoughts are still appreciated.


End file.
